All nine accused are facing prosecution in the case which is being tried by a fast-track court.

Exactly a year ago, nine men had brutally gangraped and murdered a 20-year-old college student in North 24 Parganas district’s Kamduni village. On Saturday, which marked the first anniversary of the gruesome incident, the villagers had only “lethargic trial” and the “suppression of the movement” to talk about.

In a meeting with BJP’s state president Rahul Sinha, the villagers and those that have come to be identified as the face of the protest, expressed their wish to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to seek “justice for the victim’s family”.

“We are yet to get justice. The accused persons are under arrest but the case is still pending. We were told the culprits would be punished within a month. That did not happen but our movement was suppressed. The village did not witness any infrastructural development as was promised. There is still no light posts on the road from whose dark alley the student was dragged by the rapists,” Pradip Mukherjee, the school teacher who heads the protesters’ forum, the Kamduni Pratibadi Mancha, said.
The younger brother of the victim, however, refused to speak to the media persons who had visited the family.

The members of the forum have now decided to seek the Central government’s intervention “to expedite the meandering trial”. “We will be writing to the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister seeking justice,” he said.

BJP’s Sinha confirmed this. “They have appealed to us that they want to meet Narendra Modiji or Rajnath Singhji. I have assured them that the state BJP is fully behind them and (that) we will see what steps can be taken to arrange a meeting,” he said.